The Art of True Leadership — The Analects

Confucius seldom speaks of profit, Heaven's appointments, or perfect virtue, as if some truths resist slogans. When a villager says his learning is wide but not famous for one thing, Confucius jokes he might take up charioteering. He follows the economical silk cap but keeps bowing below the hall when others bow late out of arrogance. He is free of foregone conclusions, arbitrary decisions, obstinacy, and egoism. Threatened at K'wang, he says the cause of truth did not die with King Wan and Heaven will not let it perish through him. He deflects praise of universal genius: a superior man does not need a basket of petty skills. He claims not to know, yet can exhaust a question from one end to the other. When the phoenix does not come and the river sends forth no map, he says it is all over. He rises for mourners, the formally dressed, and the blind. Yen Yuan says the Master's way grows higher, firmer, and suddenly behind him. Ill, he rejects fake ministers and would rather die among disciples than live a pretense. Next come choices about use, reform, and steady work. A gem should be sold, but only to the right buyer. Confucius would live among eastern tribes if a superior man could civilize rudeness. Returning from Wei to Lu, he puts royal music in order. He asks which duties he truly meets: serving ministers, serving family, serving the dead, resisting wine. By a stream he sees time passing without cease. He has not seen one who loves virtue as he loves beauty. Learning is like raising a mound: stopping one basket short is your own stop; throwing earth forward one basket at a time is your own advance. Hui never flags; Yen Yuan always advances. Some talents sprout without flowering, or flower without fruit. The closing tightens friendship, will, and companionship. Hold faithfulness and sincerity; befriend equals; abandon faults. A state's commander may be captured, not a common man's will. Yu stands in hemp beside fur without shame, but repeating an ode is not full excellence. Cold weather reveals pine and cypress last. The wise are free from perplexity, the virtuous from anxiety, the bold from fear. Some can study with you but not reach principle, reach principle but not stand in it, or stand in it but not weigh events with you. Book IX ends with a poem about distant longing and Confucius's answer: if you truly thought of someone, how is distance an excuse?